Poison Ivy
by Rivergirls Anthem
Summary: Is that the only reason why you wanted to meet up with me? Because you thought I belonged to someone else, now?” Content is explained in the first chapter! Chapter 3 is finally up! Xo, as always!
1. Long jacket

**A/N : First of all, I would like to send a BIG BIG thank you to Ana, because I pitched this idea to her and she seemed to like it. Now, I'm going to pitch it to you, and I hope you'll like it as well:**

**The thing is, people, that it's situated at the beginning of season two, it picks up in the episode 'Otis', but there are some twists : Sara didn't OD, but she _did_ take morphine that night. Now, this is the big part : Alex and Sara already met, and she's helping him trying to quit his addiction to Varatril. A nosy neighbour, however, misinforms Veronica and tells her Alex and Sara are dating (WHICH THEY AREN'T, because I'm ALL MiSa!) and Michael gets the feeling that Alex is using Sara to get to him. Alex will do this, but only because he sees no other way. This off course results in a torn Alex, because he really likes Sara as a friend.**

**Sara is torn as well, because even though she's angry beyond belief at Michael, she's battling her feelings for him. So she doesn't know what to do. Then, there's her addiction and the fact that she feels as if she's betraying Alex (her friend) by having feelings for Michael, because he's the very person he's trying to take down. Thus, torn Sara.**

**Meanwhile, Michael is doing everything he can to reach Sara, and keep her safe.**

**There's a LOT more to this story, but I can't say everything, because it would spoil A LOT. I just wanted to say that I've written a few future chapters and that I really like those, but I'm not too sure about this first chapter. **

**So please, tell me what you think, and bear with me, because it's going to be great if you do (I hope).**

**XO, as always  
and I apologize for the enormous A/N.**

* * *

He had always wondered what Sara's appartment looked like. His brain went over all the possible designs, all the little trinkets that she might stash away in wooden cabinets, or scatter on the coffee table. Sometimes, he even pictured her there. Late at night, when he was laying on his cot, an image would flash before him, squeezing itself between all the thoughts on escaping, and all the things that had gone wrong.

He'd see her walk around in a frenzy, tidying up the place, then reviewing the scene and noticing that nothing, in fact, had changed. _"You should see my appartment"_ she had once playfully quipped, and it had hit him in the chest. He desperately wanted to.

It would, no doubt, be nothing like the place where he was currently staying at for only a few hours, with bouquets of flowers placed in every corner of the room. From drooling admirers, probably. God knows he'd never given her any, despite the fact that they were – after all – legally husband and wife.

Still, he owed Nika a lot. She had provided him shelter to tend to Lincoln's bleeding, aching wound and kept them secure from the cops, even when there was no speculating involved in this scenario. Nika now knew all the things he had been up to in prison, yet stayed on as his accomplice. He didn't know why she did it. Maybe it a was a reason laying somewhere in between a sense of obligation and an unrequited love, maybe it was neither.

All that he knew was that in this very moment, all that was important was that Lincoln would be safe – that his leg would heal and that they could continue running, hopefully grabbing LJ in the process. Running, again. Away from the cops, away from the agents who wanted nothing more than to take them down.

If there was one thing about today that would stand out for weeks to come, it would be agent Mahone's gaze locking with his, and the terrible sense that he knew all about their plan, sending shivers down his spine. The man had almost smiled at Michael. It made him sick.

He knew that it was time to send out the warnings, take every measure necessary to make sure the people he cared about didn't get hurt. Didn't get sucked into this mess, and walk away broken.

More than anything, he needed to talk to Sara. He needed to apologize, he needed to explain. To tell her that she meant more to him than she thought right now. He could still see the pained look on her face, the clear hurt when he had told her that she had been a part of the plan. He had been honest with her that day, and all it had brought her was…

He wouldn't be surprised if she hung up on him when he tried to reach her. Knowing the possible danger that she might be in, he would probably even advise her not to take any calls from unknown numbers. So he tried Veronica, and asked her to go look for Sara. To make things _**(feel)**_ right again.

-

He had always wondered what Sara's appartment looked like. Her father had always reassured him that she was a good, dutiful daughter, but somehow he hadn't sounded quite that convinced. So maybe, he thought, the appartment would consist of disorderly chaos, of clothes strewn over the floor and dirty dishes by the sink. Girly magazines on the coffee table.

He wasn't surprised when he encountered none of the above. Sara Tancredi's appartment was clean and cozy, without the magazines or dirty coffee cups. "I'm sorry," she apologized to him, quickly pulling her hair in a bun. "I'm almost ready, Alex."

He waved her apology away. "That's okay," he said, "gives me time to go investigate."

Sara poked her head out the door and raised her eyebrow quizically. "You _do_ know that this not a crime scene?"

"Oh," he questioned, "so Michael Scofield hasn't been here?" It was meant to come out a light-hearted joke, but the minute the words exited his mouth Sara felt herself tense. She was determined not to let it show, either way.

"No," she said with a feigned smile, flicking her hair over the collar of her jacket. Hoping that pulling it tight to her body would make the feeling disappear. God, she hated the taste of bitterness that had appeared in her mouth. "Michael Scofield has never been here."

-

The wind cut through her jacket all the same. It was insane, seeing as it was early May – and the weather should have been milder, this time of year. She turned to Alex. "I guess we should have taken the car."

He shook his head. "No, this is good. Helps me clear my mind, prepare myself for what's coming."

_Flashback_

"_You need help, Alex." She put her hand on his lower arm and squeezed it gently. "Let me help you."_

_He raised his gaze to stare at a blank spot on the wall, trying to ignore the buzzing sound of shiny, happy people enjoying their time at the opera. God, he hated these official gatherings – they confronted him with the kind of man he didn't want to be: a soulless, corporate man whose sole intent was making acquaintances that might someday be useful to him, if he played his cards right. Tonight, it was all about the vice-president and the promises she would be making to Sara's father at the end of the night. It was all a game to them, really._

"_Help is not what I'm looking for, Sara."_

_She had seen the caged look in his eyes, the haunted expression on his face. Alexander Mahone had been sucked empty by his addiction – and she knew the feeling all too well. So she had taken him aside during the interlude, and shared her observations with him. It was in her nature to want to help, and when she saw a hollow man, there was no way that she was going to let him drown._

"_I'm not…pressuring you to do anything, I'm not. It's just that this is going to break you, someday. I've been there, despite my father's efforts to try and cover it up, and I want you to know that it's the worst place you'll ever be."_

"_No offense, Sara; but I've been in a hell of a lot dark places."_

_She nodded. "Okay. So let me get you of this one."_

It seemed ridiculous to him, walking up the church steps to a gathering of desperate creatures trying to claw away from the mess they were in. He'd never thought he'd ever feel this pathetic.

-

"If you're looking for Tancredi, she's not there."

Veronica turned her head towards the voice and was faced with an elderly woman, her head bent around her slightly opened door. _Great._ That was just what she needed : a nosy neighbour.

"Okay," she gave up. "Do you know when she'll be back?"

The woman's eyes gleamed with secrets. She was probably under the deluded impression that she was they only one who knew what was going on in the world, and Veronica felt herself rolling her eyes inwardly. Although, she had to say that she felt pretty good as well. After all, Nosy Grandma had no idea who had sent her, and why.

To be honest, Veronica was a bit confused about that as well. It was somewhat of a mystery to her why Michael had asked her to visit Sara, and what on earth she was supposed to say to the prison doctor that had saved Lincoln's life. In a way, Sara had been the most important person on that job.

Of course, she could thank her for that, but where exactly would that lead them? She would only be confronting Sara with the mistake she had made that had probably cost her her job. After that, all idea of trust would be abandoned.

"She's out with _him_, again." Veronica's eyebrows shot up. "Seems like you're not that good a friend if you don't know about that, I'd say." The woman's expression turned to victory, and it made Veronica want to smack her with her own cane. "He's been picking her up twice a week for about three weeks. Nice guy, looks decent enough. Better looking than on TV, for sure. Such a lovely couple, they make."

"So he's a show host?" She didn't know Sara at all, but for some reason couldn't even _imagine_ her going out with the guy from Wheel of Fortune. Or the likes of him, anyway.

The lady shook her head. "Not a show host." She said it as if it was the most insulting thing to be suggesting, then continued, "that FBI agent. Mahone."

-

He waited for the phone to go over, nervously tapping his finger on the dashboard when she didn't pick up on the first ring. "She not answering?"

Michael let out a shaky breath. "Nope. Maybe she's still inside."

"Inside where, exactly?" Lincoln frowned, and his younger brother wondered if maybe he should tell him what was up, but decided against it in the end. There was a big chance Lincoln wouldn't understand what he was trying to do, wouldn't _get_ why she was the one he needed to reach out to.

Sucre's words from the other day still followed him everywhere he went. _"You fell for her, huh?"_ He missed his friend. It wasn't that Lincoln was bad company, in fact – this is what he had wanted all along : for him and his brother to be free again, and to spend time together – but he really did miss Sucre. Because he was easy to talk to…because he would understand.

"I just asked her to go visit a friend of mine." He was glad Veronica picked up when she did, so Linc didn't have the opportunity to pry any further. "Vee?"

"_Hi, Michael. I'm sorry it took me a while to answer."_

He shook his head. "No problem. Did you do what I asked you to?" He desperately hoped she had. He hoped that she would have been able to reach Sara, to talk to her and make her see that he did what he had to do, to save his brother's life. Maybe then she would understand that he had never wanted to hurt her. Not ever.

"_I went to her appartement, but she wasn't there."_ Veronica bit her lip. She didn't know what Michael's intentions were when it came to Sara Tancredi, but she knew that he wouldn't like the information she was going to give him next. No, he wouldn't like it one bit.

"_..but I did talk to the lady across the hall. She said – she said that Sara's been going out a couple of times a week with this guy.."_ Michael felt a stabbing pain. He knew that he had no claim on her whatsoever, but the simple knowledge that she was seeing someone else just tore him apart.

"Do you know who he is?"

"_You're not going to like it, Michael. Maybe you should just.."_she paused. _"Maybe you should just let it go, and leave her alone."_

His fingers touched his brow, kneading the skin there together to keep busy. Keep his mind from wandering to all the possibilities. Sara was seeing someone. Every time the realisation turned to the center stage of his mind, he felt his body twitch. He felt his heart constrict.

"I can't do that, Veronica. Please just tell me."

"_Michael.. he's an FBI agent. His name is Alex Mahone."_

* * *

_So, pleaaaase tell me what you thought? Please? I have a few chapter ready, but if you don't like it, I swear that I'll stop! -- virtual cookies promised, as always_

_XO, as always_


	2. Gloria

**A/N : You guys, here's the next chapter to my story - I know it's considerably shorter than the previous one, but the next ones will be bigger (I'm in the process of writing them, while studying for my finals - - how's _that_ for dedication? *grin*). **

**Please let me know if you like this one?  
And a big thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter - it meant the world to me!**

**Xo, as always**

* * *

Michael

"That son of a bitch."

"Who?" Lincoln glanced at Michael out of the corner of his eye, trying to make sense of his brother's secrecy. First, the request he had made to Veronica, and now his behavior.. He just – didn't understand what his brother was keeping from him. He didn't understand why he chose to. "Michael, talk to me?"

The younger man stared out the window, pushing his elbow up against the glass to steady his heavy head. "Mahone is trying to use Sara to get to me."

Lincoln shook his head in confusion. "Sara – Tancredi? The doctor? Why would he want to use her?"

Michael sighed. It was clean proof of why Lincoln wouldn't understand. He should have known that his brother would react this way, but then again, Michael had never allowed Lincoln to get in on the secret. It was partly his own fault. Just like it was his fault that Sara was at risk now.

"She's important to me."

His older brother turned to the road. "How important are we talking about?" His voice had turned to a low, rough mumble. Maybe he didn't really know anything about Michael, anymore. All he knew now was the memories of when they were young, and the image of the man who had turned up in the Fox River chapel, promising to save him.

Michael moved his head from side to side slowly, biting his thumb to keep the frustration at bay. "That doesn't matter, now. All that's important is that she's in danger. I put her there." His brain raced with ways to reach her, to make sure Mahone didn't hurt her..before it was too late.

-

Sara

Sara walked down the church steps, breathing in the crisp night air – and looked up at the stars. The question Katie had asked her today played in loops in her head, over and over again.

"_Does it worry you, that he's out there?"_

She knew her nurse hadn't been talking about any sort of possible danger Michael might pose to her, but whether or not Sara worried about _him_. About the fact that his life was constantly in danger and that at any second, it could end.

She shivered involuntarily. Imagining Michael being gone was a thought that she needed to get out of her head very quickly, before she could get consumed by thoughts of his death, and what it would mean to her. If she followed that path, it would be a long way down the rabbithole, eventually leading her to a place where it would be too dark for her to survive.

And she would do exactly as she had done just a week ago. After many, many years of healing, she would once again turn to her old nemesis and push the needle into her vein, feeling the rush of nothingness coursing through her body. When she had come to her senses again, she had immediately started to sob. She had _hated_ herself for being this weak, and she had _despised_ him for leaving her.

For the first time in over three years, she had something else to say at the NA meeting. _No, she hadn't been doing fine. She had been using again._

Her hand reached inside her purse and clutched the folds of a small origami rose. _Damn it, Michael._

"Are you okay?"

She turned to see Alex walking over to her, the rhythmic sound of his feet shuffling down the stone steps. She instantly felt guilty : she was supposed to be there for him through these meetings, she was supposed to be the one helping _him_. Not the other way around. She gave him a little smile while he leaned against the railing and traced its curls with his fingers. "People are getting worried about you."

She nodded. "I'm fine. Just needed…" she motioned around her. "I just needed some fresh air."

His gaze swept over the street. "Yeah, I know the feeling."

-

He walked her home, the way he always did after their joined meetings, and she paused, turning to him to say goodbye, when the door across the hallway opened. She sighed. "Goodevening, mrs. Reena."

Two eyes stared back at her from a wrinkled face. "I just wanted to tell you that there was someone at the door for you." Sara rolled her eyes at Alex, and a mutual understanding passed between them. "Some _girl_ named Veronica. Black hair, kind of short."

Sara's brow furrowed. "Veronica? Donovan?"

The lady hummed her reply. "Hmm. Just to let you know." Her door slammed shut, and she was gone.

Sara turned to Alex again, still unsure as to why Veronica would come and visit her, when they had only met once, to talk about Lincoln's innocence. There really wasn't anything more she could do about _that_, so why..? "I'm sorry, Alex. She tends to pop up from time to time."

He shrugged, waving her apology away. "That's okay."

Yet it wasn't. The fact that Veronica Donovan had been here had been the prelude to a whole new fase in Alex' investigation on Michael Scofield. It meant that.. he drew in a desperate breath. It meant that he would have to involve Sara in the process, that he would have to spend time with her not because he wanted to, but because he had to. To make sure his own future with his family was safe…

He wouldn't hurt her – not physically, anyway – but he hated to betray her, to use her for his own purposes. He sighed and let his head fall down upon his steering wheel, his hands clutching the soft leather, when he reached for the phone. "Mr. Kim. It's agent Mahone. I think I may have something, here."

* * *

_So? What did you think? Please let me know?_

_Xo, as always  
And once again, I promise the chapters will intensify! Promise with my three-different-kinds-of-chocolate-cookies on top!!_


	3. Slow me down

**A/N : Hey you guys, I'm so sorry that it took me this long to update, but the ending to this chapter _just _wouldn't work! I hope it's good now. The thing about this story is that I have a few chapters written, but they're all set about a week after this chapter, and I need to fill in the blanks, but it's not working so well for me. Anyway, I hope that inspiration will come soon, since I'm in some kind of a rut, having a case of MiSa-block. Hope it'll lift soon. It might help if you review this chapter? Pretty pleaaaase?**

**Xo, as always!**

* * *

Sara

"You work too hard," she told him. He shook his head with a small smile. He couldn't afford not to work this hard, if he didn't – it would all go down in flames. His life, his innocence, and his family. And he was ruining his friendship with Sara right. now.

"I'm actually not kidding, Alex. Are you taking the Varatril again?" She worried about him, she really did. The Varatril was wrecking his body and attacking his mind. If he kept it up, then he wouldn't _ever_ catch Michael, and worse than that, he might even fall apart never to be fixed again.

Alex nodded. "Though I'm not…using as much as I used to." He smirked. "Your help is actually.. helping me."

Sara smiled. "I'm glad. Now, how long has it been since you've had a decent meal?"

-

When she got home that afternoon, Veronica was waiting on the steps of her appartement building. Sara stopped dead in her tracks, cautiously accepting the small, hesitant smile playing around the woman's lips.

"Hi," she said. "I'm sorry about ambushing you like this, but I didn't want to face your neighbour again." The explanation made sense, and Sara let it sink in, grateful that she understood… What she still couldn't figure out, however, was exactly _why_ Veronica was here in the first place.

So she awkwardly smiled back at the woman and motioned to follow her in. Veronica followed without a word, and rested a few steps inside of her appartment, while Sara just kept on moving, bustling about. She _had to_, in a desperate attempt to battle her restlessness. "Do you want something to drink?"

Veronica shook her head politely. "No, thank you. I know just must wonder why I came." She raised her shoulders and dropped them again, every movement she made heavy with distress. "I actually don't know, myself. All I know is that Michael is worried about you, and he asked me to see if you were okay."

Sara huffed disbelievingly, while pulling out a glass from the cabinet above the stove, pouring herself a glass of water. "Sure. What does he need me to do this time?"

"I think he just needs you to be okay."

She turned around to face Veronica and set the glass down with as much force as she could muster. "He should have thought of that before he tried to use me." Her lips opened, the smallest crack allowing a soundless sigh to escape through it. The woman standing in front of her didn't deserve her anger, justified or otherwise. There was only one man that she would yell her accusations at, and he wasn't here. Hell, he had probably already left the country. "I'm sorry, Veronica. You don't need this from me."

Empathy shone on the other woman's face. "Sara, I know he hurt you. I can understand where you're coming from, but I know that he did what he had to do. Michael would never intentionally hurt someone – and I've known him since he was about 13."

Sara pushed herself from the counter and walked towards her fruitbasket, chopping her pineapple into even slices, cocooning herself in the sense of control it brought her. "He told me that the man he had once been died the minute he stepped inside the walls of Fox River."

"Do you believe that?"

She wiped the strands of hair away from her eyes with the back of her hand, the knife shining when the light fell upon it. "I don't know what to believe anymore, Veronica. I'm just so…I'm furious."

"Then I think your anger should be directed at me as well. Because I would have asked you to leave that door open, too." She tentatively walked towards Sara until she was only a few feet away. "Lincoln is the love of my life, Sara. And he's the only family Michael has left. We would have done _anything_ to save him."

"You would have told me, plainly. Michael tried to manipulate me from the very start, and everything he said to me, everything he did,…" she turned away to stare at the painting on her wall. The rough sea had always appealed to her, and this painting looked so beautiful, so absolutely disasterous, that she had bought it on sight. "…it was all a lie."

"Maybe the fact that he's reaching out to you now means that it wasn't." Veronica tried.

Sara gave her a weak smile. "I like the fact that you trust him enough to give his actions that interpretation. I can't anymore. I'm done believing in him."

"Okay." Veronica walked towards the door. "I know I can't…convince you, right now. But if you _ever_ need anything, I'll give you my cell phone number." She pulled out a card and wrote her number on the back. "Anything at all, Sara, and…" she hestitated. "I might be back again, in case Michael wants to contact you. He was afraid that if he called you right away, you'd hang up on him."

_Not an unrealistic thing to be thinking._ If he had called her, she probably would have hung up on him. "I'm not sure if I ever want anything to do with him again." Her eyes felt heavy, and all she wanted to was fall asleep, and forget his very existence. "I'm sorry, but I just don't know. You tell him that, if he asks for me again."

"_When_." Veronica corrected her. "One more thing, Sara. And I probably don't have the right to ask you this question, but…if not Michael, then why Alex? Why him?"

"He's _there_ for me when I need him. Just like I'm there for him."

-

Alex

She had come over around 6 to cook him dinner and had made herself right at home. Hell, she even set the table, and he couldn't even remember the last time he had put such an effort into his evening meal. "You really don't have to do this."

Sara smiled at him. "I know, but I want to."

It had been the wrong thing to say. Her heart felt a deep stab of hurt when she thought back to the time when those words had been directed at her. She had been angry, then, as well, but the way his hand had fluttered out of her reach had almost made her smile. Almost.

"_I think he just wants you to be okay."_ She pushed all thoughts Michael-related out of her mind. She was here with Alex now, and it was unfair to be thinking of the one man he was trying to bring down.

"So what do you want to drink?"

-

His cell phone rang, and Alex prayed it wouldn't be Bill Kim on the other end of the line. Sara was with him now, and there was no way he could divulge information about her when she was in the room.

"Mahone."

"_Alex. Do you know who this is?"_ The voice struck him like lightning. He hadn't even thought of the possibility that Michael could get _his_ contact information, and then use it to his advantage.

"Yeah, I know who this is." He motioned to Sara that he would take the conversation into the other room, and she nodded in acceptance. The strange thing was that he didn't know _what_ her reaction would be if she knew who he was talking to. "I'm curious though, Michael, how did you get this number?"

Michael

"Does it matter?"

"_Fair enough. How about you let me know to what I owe the honor, then?"_

Her name pounced inside of his skull, repeating itself over and over again. _Sara._ "I think you know, Alex."

"_Enlighten me."_

He rested his head against the cold glass window, mindful of his brother's gaze upon him. Yet it didn't matter what Lincoln thought, right now. He just needed Sara to be safe again. "Sara Tancredi. I want you to stay away from her."

"_Ah." _Alex sounded smug, and it made Michael want to grab the man through his phone and strangle him in person. _"I want to ask you something, Michael. Did you really think that we wouldn't figure it out? That we wouldn't use her to get exactly what we wanted out of you?"_

"That's why I needed to get to her before you could."

"_You failed, Michael. You're too late. __And the fact that she's here…with me… right now… must be killing you." _

He had failed her. He had known all along, from the moment the feeling of emptiness had started to consume him. But to actually hear the one man he couldn't afford to be anywhere close to her speak the words made it all the more real. He needed to get to her, and show her… show her all that she meant to him. All they could be together.

"_She's never even mentioned your name. I can't imagine how that feels."_

Hardness came into his features, etching all the determination he felt onto his skin. "Just wait, Alex. Things can change."

He could almost see the grin spreading on Mahone's face when he ended their call with a _"Sara's calling for me, Michael. I'll see you soon."_ But he wouldn't give up on the one person who had made everything _matter_, again.

He'd get to her, somehow.

* * *

_So? Pleaaaase tell me what you think, it means the world to me!!_

_Xo, as always_


End file.
